Motomiya Mao
Motomiya Mao is the main character. She is a high school student who, after some special circumstances, ends up living with her childhood friend Nakamura Hiro . Appearance Mao is often described as attractive by many characters throughout the story. Mao currently has long black hair and very nice skin. Prior to middle school, she had shorter hair resembling her first mother. However, later on in middle school she often wore her hair in pig tails. Personality Mao is dense towards her feelings and others. She doesn't realize Oda's, Daiki's, and Hiro's feelings toward her. She deeply cares about her family and friends, which is why her parent's disregard and neglect had been incredibly hurtful to her. She is portrayed as a shy and aloof girl, but to people she is close with, she is more outgoing. She is good at sealing her emotions. Mao is also easy to read (according to Hiro). Mao used to insensitive, rude and she often complained often, so she is often misunderstood by others. After Mao started living with Hiro she became more considerate, less rude, and concerned of her friends. Background Childhood When she was little, her parents were rarely at home "working for her sake" (or she thought) so she was alone most of the time. One day when she was eating alone by the shrine, she was seen by Nakamura Hina, the daughter from a new family in the neighborhood. Soon after she was invited to eat at the Nakamura's house. One night, at the Nakamura's she declined dinner saying her family was waiting for her at home. When she arrived home she found herself alone. Suddenly her mom arrived, but the her joy disappeared when she saw a man (who obviously wasn't her father) arriving with her mother. Later, Mao was crying near the shrine when Nakamura Hiro finds her. She tells him her parents are getting divorced so she needs to decide where she will live; to what he responds:'' "If you don't like any of your choices, why don't you stay at my place?" Those words made her happy though it was not an option. She decided to stay with her father and so she moved a couple of stations away. Even then she continued to go frequently to the Nakamura's until she became part of the family. After the sudden death of Hiro's parents, the younger siblings moved to live with their aunts and uncles. Mao couldn't go to the Nakamura's house as much as she was used to before the accident. But she always tried to support and help Hiro, who being the oldest and wanting to stay there. Hiro began to work to keep the house until the day his family could live again together. Plot Relationships Family *Hironaka Yuzuno - Hironaka Yuzuno is Mao's biological mother. Not much is known about Mao's mother. After marrying Mao's father she had an affair with another man. On Christmas, her husband came home early and found her cheating on him. Mao's mother and her father got divorced. Mao was forced to choose to stay with either her mom or dad. Mao choose to live with her father instead, because Mao did not want to live with a man that she didn't know. *Motomiya Kaitou - :Motomiya Kaitou is Mao's biological father. When Mao was born, her father was kind and worked hard to support their family, but after finding out his wife was cheating on him the whole time he became a cold and uncaring person. He feels that Mao left him (to live with Hiro) just like her mother did. Despite his constant efforts to drive Mao away, she still wants to build a relationship with him. He seems to be kind to everyone but Mao after his remarriage. After the trip Mao planned, Mao sees hints about her father's love for her. *Stepmother - : The stepmother is one of the main driving forces in getting Mao to come back home. The second time Mao meets her stepmother was at the grocery store, where her stepmother requests to talk to her asking for her to come home. She originally didn't want Mao to intrude on her life but after a while she realized that Mao had left a gaping hole in their family. Mao has started having more contact with her family now, due to her stepmother. *Yui - In the beginning of the novel, the relationship between Mao and her stepsister Yui is unclear. When Mao is invited to her Yui's birthday, Mao feels very distant and awkward when she tries to talk to her Yui for the first time. Yui tells Mao she feels Mao left home because of her. Mao did not realize that she did that, and the misunderstanding is cleared once Mao apologizes. Mao draws pictures and chats with her stepsiter, and when Mao leaves, her stepsister gives her a drawing. In the drawing it had a message that said "I love my big sister" and "Come back soon so we can play again". Their relationship has improved and they are able to talk to each other often. Love Life *Nakamura Hiro - Hiro is a childhood friend and love interest for Mao. Mao used to be very irritable and complained a lot (such as one Hiro called her "Magyo") in order to cover up her feelings of her love for Hiro. Hiro often invited Mao to live with him, since she often said that she felt she had no where to live. Eventually Mao lives with Hiro, and she greatly appreciates him. She realizes her feelings for Hiro when Radical sends Mao feedback about her story House of the Sun (which is based on her life) questioning her feelings of love. Mao often worries whether she is a burden to Hiro. Hiro treated Mao as younger sister , which made Mao feel like she replaced Hina. Mao tries to hint to Hiro about her feelings. Hiro naturally holds hands with Mao because Mao is seen as a part of his family to Hiro. Hiro eventually realizes his true feelings for Mao when he gets jealous (when Daiki confessed his love for Mao). In Chapter 32, Hiro and Mao both share a kiss. Hiro tells Mao that he will eventually be the one to confess his feelings to Mao. :: Hiro tells Mao how he wishes that his whole family could live together in his house (just like before his parent's death). Mao suggests to Hiro that he should tell them. Hiro says that because of Mao, he was able to get the courage to ask Daiki and Hina to visit them. *Nakamura Daiki - : When Daiki was younger he was comforted by Mao when he was crying in the rain after his parents death. Daiki is shown to have feelings for Mao despite knowing she is in love with Hiro. Daiki has always liked her since they were childhood friends. Daiki had often teased and insulted Mao. When they were young, they often competed against each other in video games. He can be rude and uncaring to Mao but deep inside he loves her. Daiki tries to hint to Mao about his feelings for Mao, but Mao thinks that he likes a girl in Kobe (it was really Mao). Despite knowing he will get rejected, he confesses to Mao and tells her to think about it. Mao feels awful treating Daiki the way she did especially when she had thoughtlessly talked about Hiro to him. After a while, Mao feels awful rejecting Daiki, and she tells him that he's a great option but she really loves Hiro. *Oda - In the beginning chapters, Oda often spent his time with Mao, and offered to walk her home and watch movies with him. When Mao asks why Oda spent so much time with her, Oda confessed his love to Mao, but Mao rejected him. Oda and Mao still remain friends, and Oda later began to like and date Chi. Friendships ''In elementary school, Mao was bullied and treated as an outsider. Still, she was able to meet some friends. '' *Chihiro - :Mao and Chi were friends during middle school. Their friendship started every since Chi sat in front of Mao. Mao used to be very distant to others, but Chihiro (who Mao calls "Chi") still talked to her, which made Mao feel welcome. She often talked to Mao secretly during class which Mao found that it was very fun. Chi was very kind to Mao and defended her when other people gossiped. Mao starts avoiding Chi because of Oda's confession to Mao, in order to not hurt Chi's feelings (Chi likes Oda). Chi confronts Mao and Oda and tells her that she was upset because Mao talked to Oda instead of her. They maintain a very close relationship together and they know about each other's love lives and family situation. They often eat together at lunch and they have gone to each other's houses. *Nakamura Hina - Mao and Hina used to be good friends before Nakamura's parents death. Mao feels guilty about taking *Radical (Sugimoto) - Radical and Mao met because they were both cellphone novelists. In Chapter 5 ''Radical, Mao's first impression of Radical was that she was pretty. Radical was a very big fan of Mao's cellphone novel House of the Sun. She finds that Radical is very easy to talk to. Mao discovers that Radical has a crush on Hiro when she sees pictures of him in Radical's house. Mao eventually tells Radical that Mao likes the person Radical likes (Hiro), and she lives with him. Radical seems very disturbed by this and cries. Mao feels guilty about her feelings for Hiro because of Radical. They become friends, but they are distant because they both like Hiro. Nakamura's Parents ''These are the parents of Hiro, Daiki and Hina. Nakamura's parents were very kind and welcoming to Mao. Mao was shocked when they had both died in the car crash. '' *Nakamura's Mom - The mother of the Nakamura family treated Mao extremely kindly and often invited her to their house. Mao was treated as part of Nakamura's family. She was able to actually break Mao's cold exterior and comfort her when she cried. She acted very much like a mother to Mao. *Nakamura's Father Aliases *Mao *Magyo (Hiro and Daiki) *Motomiya (Oda) *Mao-chan (Stepmother) *Mrs. Kuukai/Kuukai (Radical/Sugimoto) *Ninja-chan (Fujita calls her that when Mao is working at the bar) *Sorami (narrator that represents Mao in Mao's cellphone novel) Trivia *Mao is terrible at cooking. She attempted to cook hamburger steak, cream puffs, and tomato soup. *Mao does not like eating sweet food *Mao's pen name for her cell phone novel "House of the Sun" is "Kuukai". *Mao is a fan of Mito Komon's Yashichi. Gallery Category:Characters